Best Accounting Software with Inventory in Australia (2026)

The best accounting software with inventory in Australia depends on how much stock you hold and where. Xero tracks up to 4,000 items in one location on every plan, QuickBooks needs Plus ($84 a month), and MYOB AccountRight Plus ($165) adds stocktakes. Multiple warehouses point to AccountRight Premier, Zoho or an add-on app (as at 18 October 2026).

Which plans include stock tracking, and at what price?

Standard prices before promotions, checked on each provider's site on 18 October 2026. Xero, QuickBooks, MYOB and Zoho quote prices including GST; Reckon and Cashflow Manager don't state it. ASBG has not tested these products hands-on.

Xero: tracked inventory on every plan

Every Xero plan includes inventory, purchase orders and bank connections. Stock levels update as you approve bills, invoices and credit notes, and you can adjust for lost or damaged items. Xero says it manages up to 4,000 tracked items natively, tracks stock in a single location and calculates cost of goods sold using weighted average cost.

Ignite ($37 a month) includes inventory but caps you at 20 invoices and 5 bills a month, so most stock businesses start on Grow ($78). Xero's Inventory Plus, which adds FIFO, multiple locations and a Shopify and Amazon sync, is only available in the United States. If you need several locations, batch or serial numbers or manufacturing, Xero points you to an app from its App Store. See the Xero pricing guide for plan limits.

QuickBooks Online: Plus and Advanced

QuickBooks tracks stock on Plus ($84 a month, 5 users) and Advanced ($125, 25 users), including GST. Both plans tick inventory tracking, purchase orders and sales orders, QuickBooks reduces quantity on hand as you invoice, and it calculates the cost of each product sold on a first-in, first-out (FIFO) basis with low-stock alerts. Plus allows up to 40 classes and locations, which are reporting tags rather than stock held per warehouse.

New customers are offered 70% off. The banner says 6 months, but the offer terms on the pricing page say the discount applies for the first 3 months, so budget on full price from month 4. Read Xero vs QuickBooks for the wider comparison.

MYOB: the inventory add-on or AccountRight

MYOB Business Lite and Pro let you create up to 10 inventoried items, in one location with up to 10 product attributes. Beyond that, unlimited inventory is a $22-a-month add-on, which takes Lite to $57 a month and Pro to $92 at standard monthly prices. Neither plan includes stocktakes.

AccountRight Plus ($165 a month or $1,485 a year) includes unlimited inventory, stocktakes, unlimited attributes, job budgets and unlimited payroll, but still one inventory location. AccountRight Premier ($210 a month or $1,890 a year) adds unlimited warehouse locations, multiple currencies and extra business files. Both keep a Windows desktop application alongside browser access. On annual billing, Plus becomes cheaper than Pro with payroll from about 15 employees (MYOB pricing guide). Our AccountRight guide and MYOB Business vs AccountRight explain the desktop split.

Zoho Books and Zoho Inventory

Zoho Books adds stock tracking, price lists and landed costs from Professional (A$33 a month billed annually, A$39.60 monthly). Elite (A$181.50 billed annually) adds advanced inventory control, warehouse management, serial number and batch tracking and bin locations. Prices include GST.

Zoho Inventory is a separate product that connects to Zoho Books, Xero and QuickBooks Online. Billed annually and including GST, it costs:

Source: Zoho Inventory AU pricing, checked 18 October 2026. MYOB is not listed among its accounting connections.

Reckon and Cashflow Manager

Reckon One now sells inventory inside its plans: Accounting Premium ($46 a month) includes inventory for 1 to 10 items, and Ultimate ($85 a month, or $938.40 a year) includes unlimited active items and unlimited payroll. Reckon's hosted and desktop products also list inventory: Reckon Accounts Hosted is $92 a month or $1,064 a year. New Reckon One customers can pay $1 a month for 6 months until 31 October 2026.

Cashflow Manager Gold, now part of Reckon, records and tracks inventory and pays unlimited employees through STP. It costs from $51 a month for a minimum of 12 months and runs on Windows 11.

Add-on inventory apps: Cin7, Unleashed, Katana

When stock outgrows the accounting package, a separate inventory app manages quantities, locations and orders and posts summaries to the ledger.

Checked on each provider's site on 18 October 2026. DEAR Inventory's website and its Xero App Store listing now redirect to Cin7 Core. Cin7's Advanced plan shows US$1,199 on the page but US$999 in the page's own data, so confirm the quote. None of these apps listed MYOB as a current accounting connection on the pages we checked, so ask the vendor.

These apps cost far more than the accounting plan, so they suit businesses with real volume: several warehouses, wholesale and retail channels, assembly or batch tracking. Price the whole system, including setup, connector fees and someone monitoring sync errors.

Stocktakes and tax: what the ATO needs from your software

Your software's costing method (FIFO or weighted average) works out cost of goods sold during the year. At 30 June, the tax question is the value of trading stock on hand. The ATO lets you value each item at cost price (including freight, insurance, customs duty and delivery), market selling value or replacement value, and you can choose a different method each year for different items. An increase in stock value over the year is assessable income; a decrease is a deduction.

Under the ATO's simplified trading stock rules, a business with aggregated turnover under $10 million (or under $50 million for income years starting on or after 1 July 2021) can skip a formal stocktake and leave its stock value unchanged if it reasonably estimates the value changed by $5,000 or less during the year (ATO, last updated 27 May 2026). The estimate must be made in good faith and you must be able to explain it, using your records and inventory system. That is a tax concession, not a reason to stop counting: if quantities in the software drift, your cost of goods sold, margins and reorder points drift with them.

Our guides to reconciling cost of goods sold, explaining your closing stock figure and finding cash tied up in slow stock go further.

Which setup fits your business?

Inventory checklist: questions to answer before you choose

Choose accounting software with inventory by testing your stock process, not by looking for a tick beside "inventory". An item list, a stock ledger and a warehouse system solve different parts of the job. Write down how goods are ordered, received, stored, sold and returned in your business, then ask each shortlisted provider to demonstrate that sequence.

Start with the stock questions you need answered

You may need to know how many items are available, what has been ordered, which customer orders have reserved stock and what each sale cost. These are related questions, but not the same number.

A retailer selling finished goods has different requirements from a business assembling products, tracking serial numbers or managing batches with expiry dates. State those needs early. Don't assume an accounting package's basic inventory feature covers manufacturing or regulated traceability.

Use this demonstration script

The following quantities are a test scenario, not live business records:

1. Create one stock item with an opening quantity and value.
2. Order ten units from a supplier.
3. Receive six and leave four outstanding.
4. Record the supplier invoice using the appropriate workflow.
5. Sell two units, then return one sale.
6. Return one faulty unit to the supplier.
7. Count the remaining stock and investigate a deliberate test difference.
8. Inspect the quantity, value, supplier balance and relevant accounting entries.

At every step, ask what is on hand, committed or still on order. If the demonstrator changes an unexplained opening balance to make the totals work, repeat the exercise with the correct transaction.

Costing and locations need specific answers

Ask which costing method applies and how additional acquisition costs are treated. If freight or other costs need allocation across items, show an example and ask how the product handles it (Zoho Books lists landed costs from Professional). Your adviser should confirm the accounting treatment.

If you store goods in more than one place, test a transfer between locations. Check whether the plan tracks locations natively or needs another application. Location names typed into a description, or reporting tags, are not equivalent to controlled quantities by warehouse.

For variants, use a real pattern such as a product sold in several sizes. Check how item codes, supplier codes and barcode scanning relate. A workaround may be acceptable, but it should be visible before purchase.

If another app controls stock, assign responsibility

Decide which system owns the item catalogue, quantities, purchase orders, sales invoices and returns. Document the direction of each sync.

Test a refund after the original sale has synced. Test an item-code change and a failed connection. Ask who investigates errors and whether a retry can create duplicates.

The cost comparison should include both subscriptions, connector fees, setup and someone monitoring failures. A connected system can be useful, but it is still a system someone must operate. If your stock also flows through a till, see our POS systems comparison and POS product tax codes.

Agree a regular review

Keep a stock-count routine and investigate differences. Compare the stock report with the relevant accounting balance. Preserve supporting records for adjustments, damaged goods and returns.

A system displaying a precise dollar value can still contain incorrect quantities or costs. Accuracy comes from the transaction process and review, not the number of decimal places on the screen.

Key takeaways

• Xero tracks stock on every plan, but only up to 4,000 items in a single location, using weighted average cost.
• QuickBooks needs Plus ($84 a month) or Advanced ($125) for inventory, and uses FIFO costing.
• MYOB Lite and Pro cap you at 10 inventory items unless you add unlimited inventory for $22 a month; AccountRight Plus includes stocktakes.
• Multiple warehouses usually mean MYOB AccountRight Premier, Zoho Books Elite or Zoho Inventory, or an add-on app such as Cin7 or Unleashed.
• Small businesses can skip a formal stocktake for tax if stock value changes by $5,000 or less in the year, but the software still needs accurate counts.

Where to get help

• ATO: simplified trading stock rules and valuing trading stock.
• Vendors: bring the demonstration script to each vendor and ask for written confirmation of the plan and any add-ons needed for your actual stock process.
• Your bookkeeper or tax agent: to confirm costing, the closing stock value and whether the simplified rules suit you. See how to choose a BAS agent.
• Switching: use the switching checklist and the comparison selector.

Related tasks

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